Kurt Browning returns to the world of competitive skating

My professional career has not had any competitive events in quite a few years, but that will change with a unique competition in Japan called the Medal Winners Open. It has forced me to be more organized about my summer training.

To be honest, I sometimes do not even have summer training, but this is a little different and deserves attention, especially because I am performing Singing in The Rain after 17 years.

I went seven weeks in early summer without being on the ice, but I have been skating since Aug 5 at the Granite Club in Toronto and taking regular lessons with Doug Haw. Doug was able to get Brian Orser to land a triple axel at the age of 40 and that little bit of magic was enough for me.

Doug has been amazing and our goal is to be the best I can for this competition. This event has an emphasis on the artistic side, so it is bound to be fun.

I had a dream of doing a triple axel but just did not believe in myself enough and had to put it aside to focus on everything else. When I am doing Singing in The Rain with the hat, jacket and especially the umbrella the triple axel was not going to happen. At first, it was hard to do even the double axel, but eventually the jumps started working with all the gear.

Not sure if the magic will come back for his singing in the rain, but I am loving that he's gone back to "real training" to get ready! So wish it wasn't run by the ISU though...

He's performing Singin' in the Rain???!!!! Whoopeeeeee! I am so excited. Toni, thanks so much for the link. You and I can have our fangirl shrieks meet in midair over the center of the country. (Though I am not much good at shrieking. I'll just bellow happily.) Glass will shatter all over St. Louis.

The magic will be there! It's been there every year at SOI in Toronto. And I am going to join Toni and Olympia in an adolescent girl shriek.

I just meant that I'm unsure the new Singing In The rain may not be as magical as the one from his show (goes without saying without all of the special effects)... but it's Kurt on the ice in competition mode, so we're in for a treat either way.

wow...he's still got it. And Orser was doing 3a at 40? Canadian gods of skating, for sure. I'd like to see Elvis compete and also Boitano. They have all missed the pro comps for years and so have I. I hope we see this in usa but not likely.

Actually fairly certain that Boitano competed in the very last Ice Wars with Kurt in 2006, so you can't really say he retired from pro competition before they died. But, Kurt is 46 this year and Boitano is even older. He may still be actively skating, but he may be less interested in competition now.

For Stars on Ice, Kurt has ideas of how to make it rain in the arena - apparently it's not that difficult (not a full deluge of course) but I'd be surprised if they did that for a competition.

Medal Winners Open will be broadcast in Japan within days of the competition but there are no plans to broadcast it outside of Japan or stream it online, unfortunately. Hopefully it will show up on YouTube. I would assume they would record it in CSOI but that won't air until late 2013!

I think Kurt is one of those fabulous skaters who blossomed and thrived in the pro competitions. He was free to explore his creativity and truly entertain. I can't imagine the man NOT being magical on the ice! His footwork, his facial expressions, his interpretation of music.....I would watch him even if all he could land was a double-toe! His Singing in the Rain is an all-time classic figure skating program as well as Ragudin the Clown. His competition Casablanca was IMO one of the best ever competitive programs.

I think Kurt is one of those fabulous skaters who blossomed and thrived in the pro competitions. He was free to explore his creativity and truly entertain. I can't imagine the man NOT being magical on the ice! His footwork, his facial expressions, his interpretation of music.....I would watch him even if all he could land was a double-toe! His Singing in the Rain is an all-time classic figure skating program as well as Ragudin the Clown. His competition Casablanca was IMO one of the best ever competitive programs.

Can you tell I love the man?

I echo all of your points! Feel free to join Toni, Scrufflet and me in a group shriek in honor of Kurt.